Toon Talk: Lion King DVDPage 3 of 4

(c) Disney

Disc 2 begins with Jeremy Irons breathlessly extolling the "worldwide
phenomenonâ€? of The Lion King, which may explain why the bonus features
are divided into world continents ... or something like that. Really, there's no
logic behind this menu design, with the individual features scattered throughout
and repeated multiple times within the individual sections. It's confusing and
altogether slap-shod, so just skip the countries and go straight to the icons at
the bottom of the screen to watch the bulk of the features, then go back
afterward and catch the ones you've not already seen.

Story

: Another annoying trend in Disney DVDs lately is dividing the
features into separate chapter headings, when it would make a lot more sense
to just have, say, one feature on story instead of three sub-features. At
least throughout this disc, you can just click on "Play Journeyâ€? (a fancy way
to say "Play Allâ€?) and watch them continuously as they logically should be.
Anyway, this section delves into some of the heady themes of religion and
mythology, not to mention Shakespeare's Hamlet, that factored into,
intentionally or not, the story of The Lion King.

Film

: Originally titled King of the Jungle, the little movie
about "lions in Africaâ€? was at first the movie that nobody wanted to work on.
This section also has features on the Production Research Trip to
Africa, Art: African Influence (where it is revealed that the original
design concept incorporated more African art and fabric designs, but it was
deemed too abstract for the film's epic scope; some of these tribal art
concepts were still used in the "I Just Can't Wait To Be Kingâ€? number),
Reflections (looking back on the film's cultural impact), yet another
Storyboard Process (I think its safe to say that everyone knows by now
that storyboards look like a big comic strip), Production Design
(informed by the works of legendary film director David Lean), Character
Designs (the supervising animators chime in on their respective
characters, including Mark Henn (young Simba), Ruben Aquino (adult Simba),
Andreas Deja (Scar) and James Baxter (Rafiki), who mentions that mandrills
normally don't have tails like Rafiki does), Computer Animation
(including rare animation tests for the wildebeests) and the Film Character
Design Galleries (with narration by Disney voice fave Tony Jay).

Stage

: an extensive section of the film's transferal from screen to
stage. The initial skepticism of Michael Eisner's idea was silenced when
avant-garde director Julie Taymor was brought aboard; she reinterpreted
the story using masks, puppetry and other highly theatrical conceits, creating
a Broadway musical like none other seen before. Also includes a Stage
Musical Publicity Gallery.

Music

: This film, which originally wasn't even a musical, sure ended
up with a lot of musicians working for it: songwriters Elton John and Tim
Rice, score composer and producer Hans Zimmer, contributing producer Mark
Mancina and contributing composer Lebo M, whose African chants gave thrilling
voice to the entire production. Of special note here is the Audio Sequel
section, detailing how the success of the film's music and soundtrack spawned
the Rhythm of the Pride Lands album, which in turn was instrumental in
the creation of the Broadway musical. Also included here are the three
original Lion King Music Videos: John's "Can You Feel the Love
Tonightâ€? and "Circle of Lifeâ€? (the latter of which shows the original
crocodiles from "I Just Can't Wait To Be Kingâ€?, as well several voice actor
cameos) and Jimmy Cliff and Lebo M's "Hakuna Matataâ€? (which features the
missing Timon verse) from the Rhythm album.

Animals

: Introduced by Roy Disney (at the Tree of Life in the Animal
Kingdom), this section is a variation of the Disneypedia features found
on other titles; an educational mix of National Geographic-type archival
footage and scenes from the film of Lions, Meerkats, Warthogs and
Hyenas. Also includes the featurette Disney and Animals, a
brief overview of the history of animals and nature in Disney productions,
from Mickey Mouse and the True Life Adventures to Adventureland and
Brother Bear.

Virtual Safari

: Choose between a jeep or a boat and you'll go on an
adventure just like at the Kilimanjaro Safaris at the Animal Kingdom or the
Jungle Cruise at Disneyland ... complete with a pair of wisecracking guides in
Timon and Pumbaa. Even with its limited computer animation, this is actually a
lot of fun, with good sense of humor and several in-jokes for Disney fans
(check out the souvenir photos at the end). There is mention that the upcoming
DVD special editions of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion
King 1 ˝ will also feature similar safaris, and you can also access the Lion King 1 ˝ Preview in this section.

Now that you have gone through all the icons, go to Asia to find
the Multi-Language Reel("Hakuna Matataâ€? sung in Dutch,
Mandarin, Korean and, a first for Disney films, Zulu, among other languages),
a featurette on the film's International Releases and Galleries
featuring International Soundtrack Covers and International Large
Format Release publicity.

Then you can then skip right over Africa, Australia, Europe and
South America and go straight to North America: under Burbank,
you'll find DVD Sound Design (detailing how the film's soundtrack was
remastered for its Large Format rerelease); Orlando includes brief
promos (read: commercials) for Disney's Animal Kingdom park and the Animal
Kingdom Lodge resort; New York just repeats the features already
covered under "Stageâ€?; and finally, Glendale, where the bulk of the
remaining footage is located, including a compelling Storyboard to Film
Comparison of the "Circle of Lifeâ€? sequence, Early Concepts for the
"Simba's Coronationâ€? and "Timon and Pumbaa find Simbaâ€? scenes, a complete
storyboard and soundtrack for the Abandoned Scene "The Warthog
Rhapsodyâ€? (an early song for Timon and Pumbaa, think "Under the Seaâ€? with
bugs. It was included on the Rhythm of the Pride Lands album and rumor
has it that it will be adapted into "The Meerkat Rhapsodyâ€? for The Lion
King 1 ˝), an Early Presentation Reel (allowing a nice overview of
early concept art), Art Design Galleries (again narrated by Tony Jay)
and Effects Animation (for such key sequences as the "Circle of Lifeâ€?
and the stampede).